How the Concept of Kaizen Has Shaped Japanese Work Culture

My very first client, when I started working in advertising, was Toyota. On my first day at work, I was introduced to the Japanese concept of Kaizen as the cornerstone of their business philosophy. It even has a deep history in our own values at LEXIGO, as you'll soon find out. Continual improvement seemed like an easy enough concept to understand but in reality, there is so much more to it.

What exactly is Kaizen? Where did it come from? And how has it shaped Japanese work culture? Take a deep dive into this Japanese business philosophy with us and learn how you can use the Kaizen method to improve your business.

What is Kaizen?

The Japanese word Kaizen is broken up into "Kai" which means "Change" and "Zen" which means "Good". It literally translates to "Good Change" or "Change for Good," but, as we know in the translation space, you can't always take the exact translation of a word.

It is better explained as "Change for the better," which is how Toyota, the Japanese company that has popularized the concept of Kaizen, explains it. This definition has evolved and is now a philosophy of continuous improvement, focused on small changes implemented everywhere, every day, and with everyone at your company, that can add up to significant results over time.

The core philosophy behind Kaizen is simple: you can always make or do things better, even if they seem to work well in a particular moment, and all problems should be seen as opportunities to improve things.

The history behind Kaizen

The Kaizen concept can be traced back to the Japanese car manufacturer, the Toyota Motor Corporation, which implemented Kaizen principles in its production process, introducing lean manufacturing to the world, which has helped them become one of the most successful companies in the world.

Kaizen was first practised in Japanese companies after the Second World War, influenced in part by American business and management consultants. Post World War II, American management consultants visited Japan to study agricultural production problems and other issues in the country that were damaged by the war.

W. Edwards Deming and other experts collaborated with Japanese business managers to come up with new ways to increase productivity in manufacturing and improve product quality for the consumer. They came up with the idea of quality circles, where quality control is put more directly into the hands of line workers. This concept was further developed by the Japanese into the Plan > Do > Check > Act (PDCA) Cycle, which is still one of the essential tools of the Kaizen Method today (more on that later).

Toyota introduced quality circles in the 1950s as part of its manufacturing process. These quality control circles consisted of groups of employees with the same (or similar) role(s) who would get together regularly to define, analyse, and find solutions to issues related to their work. This eventually led to the development of Toyota's unique "Toyota Production System," also known as "The Toyota Way," which they still use today.

Their lean manufacturing system integrated Just-in-Time inventory management as well, which aims to match production to demand by only supplying goods that have already been ordered, and focuses on efficiency, productivity and waste reduction.

When the Kaizen method was first introduced, it was seen as a way for Japanese businesses to compete with their counterparts in Western countries. It quickly became an integral part of Japanese working culture, and is still used by Toyota, Honda, Sony, Canon and Nissan, among other automotive, technology, and manufacturing companies.

In the 1980s, partly due to the book, "Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success" by Masaaki Imai, the Kaizen approach began to gain attention in the West.

Today, the Kaizen philosophy has been adopted by Japanese organisations, as well as foreign companies, in multiple sectors. It's used in various industries, including education, healthcare and government.

The Kaizen system has been credited with a positive change in work processes, management practices, waste reduction, as well as total quality management.

The principles of Kaizen

Kaizen is built on five main principles fundamental to any application of the Kaizen philosophy. These principles are:

Know your customer

Knowing who you're selling your product to allows you to identify your customer's interests to enhance their overall experience and add value to their interaction with you or your product.

Let it flow

This principle's goal is achieving zero waste, an impossible goal but that is the point of Kaizen. If you could achieve perfection, then improvement would stop. At its core, this principle means everyone in your organisation should aim to create value and eliminate waste.

Go to Gemba

Gemba translates to "the real place." In this context, it's about leadership knowing what is happening at every level of the organisation. It's about following the action as value is created where something is actually happening. That's where you want to be.

Empower people

This principle is directed towards teams and having them organised in a way that supports the principles of Kaizen. Leaders should set clear goals for their teams that are not contradictory and they should offer a system and tools to help the teams achieve these goals.

Be transparent

Data is the strongest determining factor and is the metric that measures success. Performance and improvements must be tracked with real data, showing tangible and visible results.